Electoral College

When has this happened before? Who won popular vote and who won electoral vote?

2000; Gore won popular vote and Bush won electoral vote

How many electors are in the electoral college?

538

How does the electoral college system negatively impact the campaign process?

Candidates don't campaign in states they don't think they can win (a Republican won't waste time in New York and a Democrat won't spend time in Texas)

How is it possible for a candidate to win the popular vote but lose the election?

He may win by a very large majority in some states and get their votes, but lose by very small margin in large states with lots of electoral votes

Why is January 20th following a presidential election important?

President gets inaugurated

Why does it take 270 electoral votes to win a presidential election?

That's a majority of the electoral votes

Why did the Founding Fathers include the electoral college in the Constitution?

They didn't want to put lots of power in the public's hands

How are Maine and Nebraska different in electoral vote distribution?

They do it by congressional district

What is the "faithless elector" problem?

When an elector doesn't vote for the candidate they're pledged to vote for

How are electors chosen?

by their political party

Why are there 538 electors?

number of people in House of Representatives (435) plus 100 Senators plus 3 representatives for Washington DC

Who do voters actually vote for in presidential elections?

the electors

How do we determine how many electors a state has?

the number of their Senators (2) + number of Representatives

In 48 of 50 states, how are electors chosen?

winner takes all (whoever gets majority of vote gets all the electors)